"What Am I?" Picture

During the late 1960s, Lord Richard D. Ozwell, Dr. Jean Sergent, and his student James Bailey discovered the Great Plaza Temple deep within the humid jungles of Western Fiorre. Within the structure, the three explorers made a remarkable discovery: an enormous tomb that contained the sarcophagi of hundreds of mummified Pokemon. While there are many documented examples of ancient societies who worshiped Pokemon, there were none who were known for practicing the mummification of the deceased; greater still, of all the cultures who had myths of "Legendary Pokemon," only the Great Plaza Temple society presented evidence of their contact with such a creature: positioned in a place of great prominence in the sarcophagi room where the incredibly well-preserved remains of a mythological Pokemon known as Mew. Lord Richard immediately financed an excavation of the site by teams of archaeologists and scientists, and the overwhelming majority of the Pokemon found themselves in recreations of the Great Plaza Temple in various museums. The notable exception was the mummified Mew, which was given to Dr. Jean and James for study under the scrutiny of Lord Richard's company, the Ozwell Weapons Corporation. When it was discovered by Dr. Jean that samples of the Mew's tissue were so well-preserved as to have strands of viable DNA intact, Lord Richard approached Dr.Jean about cloning the rare, mythological Pokemon and experimentation began in earnest. The nucleus of one of Mew's somatic cells was removed and implanted in a denucleanated egg cell of a Ditto, giving the Mew's DNA the ability to "reprogram" the host cell's comparatively amorphous qualities. The egg, made virtually identical to one of Mew's own, was then stimulated with a series of electrical shocks which forced it to begin division. After many mitotic divisions in culture, the single cell formed a blastocyst with almost identical DNA to the original organism. However, the Ozwell Weapons Corporation soon found itself purchased by the Molido Company, led by an up-and-coming mogul known as Giovanni Ausiello. Unbeknownst the general public though, the Molido Company was merely a front for the criminal organization called Team Rocket. Additionally, Giovanni purchased Lord Richard's company for more than simple business reasons: he had heard reports of the Mew Cloning Project and he had his own plans for the powerful Pokemon. Thus, Giovanni arranged for the assassination of many of the scientists involved with Mew and bought the silence of the others, replacing them with his own gifted team, including such minds as Dr. Blaine Ashford, Dr. Fujiyama, and Professor Charlie Winehouse. Additionally, the project was given the codename of Project: Pinnacle and moved to a secret underground military facility located beneath an abandoned mansion on Cinnabar Island, which the Molido Company had purchased and maintains. These steps insured that the project could continue without fear of outside interference. Giovanni planned to modify the Mew's genetic structure to create the ultimate biological weapon by using a synthetic virus that he had commissioned to alter the Pokemon's amino acid sequences. However, the introduction of the virus to the developing creature (now at fetal stage) proved to be too harsh, and scientists were forced to revive the clone several times through the usage of electrical shocks. Perhaps due to this punishing treatment or the augmentation of its already formidable psychic abilities, the embryonic Pokemon gained consciousness during this torturous process of life and death, although nobody was aware of this development. Meanwhile, the organism grew at an astounding rate and various procedures were performed constantly to strengthen the clone: its genes were under constant alteration, chemical stimulants were pumped directly into its body, and surgery was performed on various aspects of its nervous system. Finally, the clone had grown and developed enough that its psychic abilities began to manifest themselves, and it began to reach out to the scientists, often leaving them with vague emotional impressions of pain, pity, and confusion. From that point onward, the creature's abilities grew exponentially and the clone communicated with more sophistication with each passing day, at points demanding for researchers to stop hurting it. Project: Pinnacle was dubbed a success and the clone was given the moniker Mewtwo. As it learned more of what it was through telepathic investigation, Mewtwo began to have nightmares and it passed on its negative emotions to others. In an effort to curb these effects, Professor Winehouse attempted to communicate with the Pokemon, but it appeared to be unreceptive to his attempts. As the interview wore on though, Winehouse began to exhibit strange behavior and after an hour he was recovered from the room cowering in fear and muttering incoherently, driven completely insane by Mewtwo. An alarm was sounded and it was discovered that people throughout the entire facility were having vivid nightmares, sudden mood changes, and delusions. Dr. Blaine Ashford concluded that Mewtwo was psychically assaulting the personnel. Emergency tests were ran on the clone, and it was discovered that it psychic abilities had grown to pass all recorded levels. Suddenly, a resounding voice boomed in the minds of every person on Cinnabar Island, asking the question, "What am I?" Amongst all the confused, horrified voices, the mental reply of Dr. Ashford was clear, "You will be a god." Enraged by what had been done to it, and believing itself to be a soulless monstrosity, Mewtwo began a ruthless killing spree of the humans who had created it and yet reviled it. Within minutes, Cinnibar Island was in a state of devastation and Mewtwo had vanished.

Mewtwo's personality of cold ruthlessness, although it is not necessarily evil as it is content to live things undisturbed as long as they do the same for it. This could be potentially due to the purposeless sense Mewtwo has concerning itself, as well as a great deal of confusion regarding everything. All the same, Mewtwo is incredibly intelligent despite its limited experience with the world outside its laboratory; the coupling of its genius level intellect with its lack of familiarity and understanding of much of the outside world makes it seem oddly precocious sometimes. Mewtwo is confident in its abilities to the point of arrogance, but as the strongest known Pokemon it has every right to be. Due to the conditions it has undergone, as well as its burgeoning psychic powers, Mewtwo struggles with its sanity, often feeling murderous and vengeful, or feeling chronically depressed and listless. Thus, especially in combat, it can become highly cruel and may even enjoy mentally torturing others.

Mewtwo possesses the pinnacle of psychic powers, and can perform any psychic task known to man. Examples include the destruction of Cinnabar laboratory with pyrokinesis, the ability to lift in excess of 500 tons via telekinesis, and accessing and manipulating dozens of minds simultaneously via telepathy. Additionally, it possesses a multitude of other formidable abilities including the ability to increase its own metabolism, cause insanity and hallucinations, and even erase or create various memories. Should it tire of subtlety, Mewtwo's command of psychic energy is so great that its Psychic attack is sufficiently powerful to kill weaker beings instantly.